Bottle cap remover



BOTTLE CAP REMOVER Filed March 13, 1933 /l Z w INVENTOR.

M/IMM/YM ATTORNEYeS.

Patented Mar. 5, 1935 UNITED STATES BOTTLE CAP REMOVER Sidney J. Hartwell, West Allis, Wis.

Application March 13,

2 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to improvements in the construction and operation of devices for efiecting removal of the. sealing caps from bottles or the like.

Numerous appliances have heretofore been proposed, for the purpose of removing the closure caps from sealed bottles or the like, and amon these prior proposed devices are found attachments which are applicable to the individual caps in order to permit opening of a bottle without having an ordinary bottle opener available. In these prior individual bottle cap removers, the opener was formed of some relatively inexpensive material, such as wire or strip metal, and was either associated directly with the cap or bottle in such a manner that it required a special cap or bottle structure, or the appliance involved considerable labor in order to associate the remover with the cap and to subsequently apply the combined remover and cap to thebottle. Since the crimped type of bottle sealingcap with a cork seal confined therein, the bottles utilizing said caps,

and the machineryfor applying such caps to bettles, have become practically standard, any-proposed change in the cap design and in the capping machinery, will immediately meet with the disapproval of the bottlers. The same is true if additional labor is required in order to capbottles with individual openers applied thereto, so that the prior proposed individual cap removers have never met with any degree of success. Then too, any cap removing appliance in order to be practicable, should be formed to prevent the cap from flying free from the operators grip during re moval thereof, and it was the inability of the prior individual capremovers to obviate all of these difliculties, that hascaused thesame never to become. popular and has resulted in the con- An object of the present invention is to provide an improved individual cap remover which is simple and inexpensive in construction, and which is moreover highly effective in use.

Another objectof the invention is to provide an improved cap removing appliance which is directlyassociablewith the bottle itself, independently' of the closure cap, prior to final sealing-of thebottle, thus permitting use of a standard crimped cap and ordinary capping machinery in eiiecting the final closure.

A further object of theinvention is to provide a compact individual bottle opener which will not interfere with tight sealing of the bottle to which it is applied and which henproperly tinued universal use of the old style bottle openers.

1933, Serial No. 660,485

applied will not undesirably protrude from the bottle. 7 V

Still another object of theinvention is; to provide an individual closure cap remover for bottles or the like, which will not obstruct the cap 5 crimper and which is adapted to be held snugly in position by the ordinary bottle neck advertising label.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cap removing device which may be manufactured and applied to the bottles at minimum cost, and which will present a neat appearance and be readily manipulable after such application thereof to the receptacles.

These and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description. h a I A clear conception of several embodiments of the invention, and of the mode of constructing and of applying the improved bottle cap removers to the individual bottles, may be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the various views: j

Fig. 1 is a part sectional view of a standard crimped cap and the upper portion of a standard bottle sealed by thecap, showing one of the improved individual cap removers appliedthereto;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the upper portion of the bottle, showing the improved cap remover in the act of removing the cap; 7

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blank utilized in the construction of the cap remover of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig.4 is an elevation of the final cap remover formed from the blank of Fig. 3, looking toward the bottle engaging hook side thereof;

Fig. 5 is another elevation of the final cap remover looking toward the opposite side thereof;

Fig. 6'is an elevation of a modified form of the improved individual cap remover; and

Fig. '7 is another view of the modified cap remover of Fig. 6. V

' While only two embodiments 'of the improved cap remover, both formed ofmetalwire stock and both adapted for use in conjunction with standard bottles, have been specifically illustrated and described herein, it is to be understood that it is not intended to unnecessarily restrict the invention by such disclosure, and that the principles involved may be more generally applicable to other closure removing appliances constructed of difierent materials.

.Beierring specifically to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, the improved cap remover 10 may be formed of a metal blank such as shown in Fig. 3, comprising a definite length of relatively stiff wire formed of corrosion resistant metal and having one end 11 slightly flattened so as to hug the side wall of the neck of a bottle while its opposite end portion 12 may be more decidedly flattened and perforated to form spaced side legs 13. This blank may be subsequently bent to the shape indicated in Figs. 1,. 4 and 5 to complete the cap remover, and the spacing between the side legs 13 which are finally distorted to form a suspension hook, is equal to the circumferential distance between alternate corrugations of the crimping of a standard closure cap.

Disposed within the suspension hook, is a triangular thin cork seal 14, but this seal may be dispensed with if non-corrosive metal is used, or if the end portion 12 is coated directly with a compressible sealing layer of material such as cork.'

Thehooked upper end of the bottle cap remover 10 is adapted to loosely engage and to extend over and into the top of the head 15 of. a standard bottle 16, beneath the cork seal 1'7 of a stand-- ard crimped oap-18, and when thus suspended, the triangular cork seal 14' will lie between the horizontal portions of the legs 13 and the head 15. The outer depending portion of the cap remover- 10 may be slightly bent so asto follow the external contour of the bottle head and neck, and the flattened lower end 11 is adapted to contact with the medial portion of the outer surface of; the bottle neck. The upper end of the remover is of suflicient flexibility to permit ready bending thereof when the relatively stiff outer rod portion of the device is employed as a lever.

In order to apply the improved remover to a bottle 16', it is only necessary to loosely hang the device from the upper end of the head 15 after the bottle 16 has been filled, and to subsequently apply the cap 18and crimp the same in position with standard crimping machinery. During the crimping operation, the corkseals 1,4, 17 are compressed and are pressed into snug engagement with the top of the bottle head 15 and with the horizontal portions of the flattened legs, 13, thereby insuring an air-tight seal for the bottle. The rim of the cap 18 is crimped on opposite sides of the outer depending portion of the legs 13 as well as between these legs, by virtue of thespacing thereof, thus insuring a firm attachment of the cap 18 throughout its entire periphery. After the cap 18 has been applied, the lower flattened end; 11' of the remover 10 may becoveredwith an ordinary neck label 19 such as is customarily used by bottlers' for advertising purposes. It will, therefore, be apparent that the appliance is applicable to standard bottles having standard crimp heads 15 and in conjunction with standand caps 18 having standard seals 17 confined therein. The labels 19 need not be used, but standard labels may be utilized if desired.

a When it is desired to remove a cap 18 and seal 17, the improved cap remover 10is first released from the label 19 whereupon the, depending rodlike outer portion thereof may be swung away from the bottle neck and over the top of the c,ap.1 8 as indicated in Fig. 2. The upper end portion 12 is suificiently flexible to permit such bending, and after the remover 10 has been thus distorted, downward pressure may be applied to the endll with the, palm of the hand, whereupon the cap 18 and seal 17'will be gradually released from the bottle head 15. During final removal of the cap, the remove-1: 101.will be bent substantially to the shape shown in Fig. 2, and the cap 18 and seal 17 will remain confined within the device and in the hand of the operator, thus preventing the removed parts from flying away from the bottle 16. After removal of the cap 18 both the remover 10 and the cap 18 may be thrown away without material loss, since the cost of the cap and of the remover will obviously be very slight.

The modified form of the improved cap remover 20, specifically illustrated in Figs. 6 and '7, is generally similar in construction to the cap remover 10 previously described, but does not operate on quite the same principle. This modified remover 20 may be formed of relatively light noncorrosive wire and has a looped lower end 21 and a bifurcated hooked upper end 22. The legs 23 of the hooked end 22 are again spaced apart a distance equal to the circumferential spacing of alternate corrugations of the cap crimping, and a triangular cork seal 24 may again be disposed within the hooked end 22 as shown in the drawmg. I 1

The application of this modified remover 20 to a bottle, is obviously made in a manner similar to that previously explained, and when the remover has been properly applied the legs 23 will be confined within the adjacent corrugations of the cap 18 and the hooked end 22 will be disposed within the bottle. When it is desired to open a bottle having the modified remover 20 applied thereto, the lower looped end 21 will first be released from the label 19 if used, whereupon the operators finger may be placed within the loop.

The looped end may then be gently jerked in an upward direction whereupon the bifurcations 23 will engage the edge of the cap and will quickly releasethe cap 18 and its seal 17 from the bottle head 15.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the invention provides an improved individual cap, remover which is simple and inexpensive in construction and which is moreover highly effective in removing the caps 18. The form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive has the advantage over the other form, that it will prevent the caps from flying away from the operators hand when bottles are being opened. By associating the cap. remover directly with the bottle itself, independently of the cap,

standard bottles, caps and crimping machines may be utilized without any change whatsoever, and by bifurcating the upper end of the remover, tight sealing of the bottle is insured. The improved cap remover does not undesirably protrude from the bottle and by utilizing the neck L labels 19 in conjunction with the improved appliance, a neat appearing finally sealed bottle results. The cost of the improved remover is so trivial that it. may be thrown away with the cap and will add but little to the present cost of sealing the bottles.

It should be understood that it is not desired to limit theinvention to the exact details herein shown and described, for various modifications within the scope of the claims may occur to persons skilled in the, art.

It is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A bottle cap remover, comprising, a relatively V stiff lever portion adapted to be closely adjacent to the exterior of the neck of the bottle below the sealing cap, a thin hooked portion adapted for disposition directly over the top of the head of the bottle beneath the cap. and seal, and a rel- V atively thin flexible intervening portion integrally connecting the lever and hooked portions near the edge of the sealing cap, said lever portion being swingable away from the bottle neck and over the top of the sealing cap during removal of the latter by virtue of the flexibility of said intervening portion.

2. A bottle cap remover, comprising, a relatively stiff lever portion having a widened lower end adapted to lie closely adjacent to the exterior of the neck of the bottle below the sealing cap, a thin relatively wide hooked portion adapted for disposition directly over the top of the head of the bottle beneath the cap and seal, and a laterally widened relatively thin and flexible intervening portion integrally connecting the lever and hooked portions near the edge of the sealing cap, said lever portion being swingable away from the bottle neck and in fulcrum contact with the top of the sealing cap during removal of the latter by virtue of the flexibility of said intervening portion.

SIDNEY J. HARTWELL. 

